MANILA, Philippines--(UPDATE) President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's public support ratings plunged last month to a record low, making her the most unpopular leader in the country since democracy was restored in 1986, the Social Weather Stations said in a survey released Friday.

The SWS found that only 22 percent of Filipinos were satisfied with the President's performance while 60 percent were dissatisfied, in a poll conducted in the last week of June.

The net satisfaction rating--the difference between those satisfied and dissatisfied--plunged to negative 38 points from negative 26 in March, according to the 2nd Quarter 2008 Social Weather Survey.

Ms Arroyo's record-low ratings reached across all regions and socioeconomic classes, with Filipinos belonging to the upper-to-middle class ABC "just as dissatisfied now" as the "masa" class D.

The President registered record dissatisfaction even in the Visayas, the region where she draws the most support, and Mindanao.

The SWS also noted that this was the first time that dissatisfaction was at "majority levels" in all areas. It was 63 percent in Metro Manila, 62 percent in Mindanao, 60 percent in Luzon outside Metro Manila and 56 percent in the Visayas.

Vice President Noli de Castro said the dip in approval ratings may be due to decisions that the President has made that the public may not have favored.

"But to say that she does not work, well, I am witness to how hard she works. Sometimes we give up on the work but she doesn't. She always says we should exert double effort because we have barely two years remaining in our term," he told reporters.

Secretary Cerge Remonde, head of the Presidential Management Staff, said the President's low public satisfaction rating was to be expected because of the high prices of rice and fuel which the people have blamed on her.

Although the President remains sensitive to public opinion, "she took an oath that requires her to do what is right and not what is popular. It's very unfair to a very dedicated and hard-working President like [Ms Arroyo]," Remonde said.

He said the survey results were obvious considering the problems confronting the country because of the global food and energy crisis.

Annual inflation in June was at a 14-year high of 11.4 percent, pushed higher by oil and food prices. The Philippines imports most of its fuel needs and is the world's biggest importer of rice this year.

Burden of leadership
Deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said this was "part of the burden of leadership that all leaders of the world must carry."

"It's lonely at the top [but] where else can the people look to for relief but from the President and the government?" she said.

"The dissatisfaction does not come as a surprise. As a country we are all suffering from the world economic downturn, factors beyond our control have seriously assaulted our economy and our way of life," Fajardo said.

But she said this has been mitigated by the country's strong economic fundamentals.

"We can only imagine how devastating the world fuel price crisis would have affected us. The sound economic and fiscal program of government has provided us with the necessary buoyancy that has so far kept us afloat in these rough seas," she said.

High oil, food prices
Administration Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri similarly attributed the President's poor rating to the steep rise in the prices of oil and food.

"It is a normal reaction for the public to blame the President. This is the sacrifice she has to make," said Zubiri.

He added that the public has to realize that these developments were beyond the President's control.

'No mandate'
To implacable Senate critics like Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., however, the President "deserves her title as the most unpopular leader in history" because "her presidency is without a mandate."

"It reflects the people's disgust over her administration's incompetence, misgovernance, corruption, unresolved extrajudicial killings and disappearances," said Pimentel.

Opposition Sen. Alan Cayetano said that only Ms Arroyo's firm hold on the military and her supposed "willingness to do immoral things" have kept her in office.

Despite a persistently poor showing in opinion polls, however, Ms Arroyo, who was elected to a six-year term in 2004 amid allegations of fraud, is not seen in any danger of losing office. She is supported by the military and her allies dominate the House of Representatives.

Although the Senate is controlled by the opposition, the powerful Catholic Church is also by and large in Ms Arroyo's favor.

4th consecutive drop
Ms Arroyo is the only President since the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was deposed in 1986 whose satisfaction rating has slipped into negative territory, SWS data showed. Her previous worst was a negative 33 rating in May 2005.

The new net rating is a 12-point drop from net negative 26 (27 percent satisfied, 54 percent dissatisfied) in the last survey of March 28 to 31, the SWS said.

"It is the fourth consecutive quarterly drop in her net rating since June 2007, when it was a neutral negative 3," SWS said in a statement.

Record lows
The President's net ratings reached record lows in the Visayas and Mindanao.

It fell by 18 points (from negative 15 in March to negative 33 in June) in the Visayas, where the President, as the SWS noted, "customarily draws her strongest support."

In Mindanao it fell by 8 points, from negative 33 to negative 41.

In Luzon outside Metro Manila, it fell by 13 points (from negative 25 to negative 38).

In Metro Manila, it dropped by 3 points, from negative 37 to negative 40.

The record low for Balance Luzon was negative 47 (May 2005), while for Metro Manila it was negative 48 (June 2006).

The President's rating also fell by 11 points in both rural and urban areas. It went from negative 27 in March to negative 38 in June in urban areas, and from negative 26 to negative 37 in rural areas.

Across classes
The survey also found dissatisfaction worsening across socioeconomic classes, noting that members of the middle-to-upper classes or ABCs were "just as dissatisfied now" as the masses.

In fact, the President's satisfaction rating fell the most among members of class ABC, dropping by 23 points from negative 14 in March to negative 37 in June. This figure beats the previous record low for class ABC, negative 34 in May 2005.

"It had been positive in February, June and September 2007, when the ratings for the lower D and E classes were negative or zero," SWS said.

Among the "masa" or class D, it fell by 11 points from negative 24 to negative 35. The previous record low for class D was negative 34, also in May 2005.

Among the class E, it fell by 8 points from the previous record low of negative 37 in March to the new record low of negative 45 in June.

The survey was conducted from June 27 to June 30 using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It had a margin of error of plus-minus 3 percentage points.